Let’s celebrate Pride and all we have achieved – but we can’t be complacent
Drag queens on the BBC, shops adorned with rainbow flags during Pride month, pro footballer Jake Daniels coming out, and eight years of marriage equality – one might assume that the fight for LGBTQ+ equality has been won.As Pride month kicks off – and the inevitable queries are raised about why we still need to take this time to celebrate and promote the LGBTQ+ community – this seems an opportune moment to reflect on how far the law has come.
It’s also a time to explore how true equality for LGBTQ+ people is sadly not yet a reality in modern Britain.Throughout most of history, legislation has tried to regulate the private and family lives of the LGBTQ+ community.
It has previously dictated who can have sex with who, who is deemed fit to raise a child, what children can be taught about relationships and how people choose to identify.The Buggery Act of 1533 punished sodomy by death and was exported across the British Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries – laws that some countries within the Commonwealth still have today.In 1957, an enquiry published a report recommending that ‘homosexual behaviour between consenting adults should no longer be a criminal offence’.
It took 10 years for the recommendations of the report to become legislation – the Sexual Offences Act 1967 finally decriminalised homosexuality.A few years later in 1972, the first Pride parade was held – an event still celebrated today.
